Re: Moving....

[Jim Atchison <jim@atchison.com>]

Francine,

You have left us a little in the dark. Some more info would be a good idea if you
need to see detailed responses.

I recently had the opportunity to move about 60 containers with about 200 or so
fish, so I feel comfortable about making some observations. Granted the fish were
mostly Rivulus, but the concepts would be the same.

The water between the two locations was radically different. I lowered the water
in the tanks to about 1 1/2 inches, leaving all plants, gravel and filter in the
water. I slid the tanks into the back of my van (carpeted) and drove the nearly 2
hours back to my place. When I got here, I added about 1 1/2 inches of my water
(softer and neutral vs hard and alkaline)...the weather cooperated.
Some of the tanks were not completely changed over for nearly 2 weeks. I did
water changes on those tanks at about a week. These tanks had been neglected for
a couple of months because of a severe illness of the owner and were extremely
overgrown. I'm of the opinion that the overgrown situation may have played in my
favor with respect to the bacteria. I did remove a number of the plants which
seemed to be on the edge of health. I did not want them to start to decay.

I did not add air into some of the tanks for the two weeks...just ran out of
energy and time. Some of the tanks were stacked on the floor for a couple of
days.

It does not appear that we lost any fish in the process. Part of that would
because they were fed sparingly (cutting down on the metabolism) and kept in the
dark (for the most part) when they arrived (also cutting down on the
metabolism)...the weather was not too hot which helped with O2 in the water and
the metabolism also.

I had to make two trips on two days...I have one more to go (another 20 units or
so).

Francine...test the water in both locations. Remember to run the tap for a few
minutes to get a better reading...test fresh and after sitting an hour...test the
next morning again. If you can set a 55 gallon drum with water at the new
location prior to the move you will be better off. I had the advantage of having
water readily available. If there is an opportunity to construct the racks ahead
of time, by all means. Racks are fairly inexpensive to build...time not factored
as a cost. If I had to move my entire fish room, I would walk away from the built
in racks and construct new ones on the other end...and I love the ones I have and
would build more just like them.

Oh...I clean the filters(sponge) or rather rinsed them as I set the tanks back
up. I was relying on the bacteria from the tank walls, gravel and that which was
left in the filter as being enough to get me back to speed. I change water every
week, so ammonia was not a challenge with the bio-load that I was faced with
(rather low).

O2 could be your biggest enemy. The level of O2 drops something like half for
every 10 degree rise in temperature...lower water can get warmer faster...and
then again lower water can keep the surface area to gallon ratio better...it's a
fine line to walk. The bacteria needs the O2 also.

The fry made the move fine.

If you think that breaking the tanks down was hard...let me warn you...by the
time you drag yourself our of the vehicle and look in the back and realize that
you have to reverse the process AND clean the units as you go...you will be
exhausted.

Double your allotted time on the move. Test the water ahead of time. Set water up
prior to the move. Lower the water in the tanks. Leave the gravel in. Leave the
filters in. Don't feed too much. Keep the fish in the dark (they will not be as
frightened either)...watch the temperature...hot is bad, cooler is better.

Good luck,
Jim

Fbethea wrote:

> Does anyone have suggestions on how to move 17 tanks with minimal stress to
> my fish and myself?
>
> I have over 200 fish - adults, juveniles, and fry.  All of my tanks have a
> ph value of 5.0.  The largest tank is a 30 gal and the rest are 20's, 10s
> and 2.5 gal tanks.  How do I keep the bacteria alive in the gravel and the
> sponges?  How can I avoid taking the water?  Cycling these tanks is
> unreasonable.
>
> A lfs guy told me that if I keep the gravel in the tank and as long as it is
> damp, I will not lose the bacteria colony.  He also said that it would not
> be a good idea to acclimate my fish to the akaline water if they have been
> living in acidic water.  Would that not be the same as buying them and
> acclimating them to my tanks?
>
> I know this is simple, however, with closing, moving, building racks, the
> dogs, the cats, the movers, packing, work deadlines, etc.  I can't seem to
> think straight.  Please advise.
>
> Francine in MD
> Fish - photography - genealogy
>
> _



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